Crack in the ground oregon

After a while, they do become much more challenging. We made it pretty much straight through to the end of the fault.

Some tricky parts but the volcanic rock gives a lot of footholds. Great pick your own adventure trail. The trail on top of the crevasses is easy so are some of the initial crevasse walks but like Rick said, some of the later crevasses have steep or challenging climbs up and over so dangerous if you land or fall because it will be on hard, rough lava rock.

And this is along a long rough road out from Christmas Valley where I only saw a few people on a Saturday and not out in the farther reach of the hike ie you fall, break something, may take a while for someone to come along and pull you out. And the heat is definitely epic in summer, bring water!

But we backtracked and hiked the upper portion instead, which is easy. Fun experience, but be aware that the whole hike itself isn't all "easy", just portions of it is. The road is awful for a sedan, super bumpy but doable. You do not need four wheel drive, you just need to drive slowly. Today was very hot and dry, make sure to bring lots of water. Hiking shoes are highly recommended because it is rocky and there is some bouldering required; along with wearing long sleeves for there is no shade.

There is at least three sections of the crack. The first crack is very easy. The second and third each have a challenging spot that requires some scrambling and climbing through narrow openings.

Overall was an amazing experience. Went a couple of months ago and forgot to post a review on here. It was a great hike.. The road going in was super rough and I drive a Jeep Wrangler! So be prepared! But the hike was beautiful. The road coming in is quite bumpy and rough and would not recommend for your average car.

The hike was great and honestly a little short for my taste. Initially you felt an instant temperature drop, but after that it was a bit warm. Not a cloud in the sky and I believe the temperature was around ish. I would only call this easy if you were just taking the path around the upper rim. If you are going inside, there is rock scrambling which is quite fun if you are into that. When we got to the last little loop, we couldn't see a way around and didn't want to risk not being able to get back up.

I did not have cell service so was not able to see the map that shows he other trails otherwise we would've tried those as well.

Definitely worth the drive. One side is doable for kids. And a climb up a rock that is taller than 6ft. Saw 2 types of lizards.

Easy to drive to and find trailhead. Parking lot was crowded, but once we started the hike people were very dispersed and it felt like we were there alone. Lot's of fun scrambling, very doable for kids, not so doable for dogs. However, you can easily bring your dog and walk along the top for the trickier parts, no biggie. Pretty cool stuff! There are several ways you can take and walking through the crevasse was so fun!

Probably not allowed but possible. I think this trail is just for the first section of the crack because you can see it goes further, and there was definitely a lot more. The area shown here is good for families, to continue I would not recommend younger children. There are some areas I walked out of because I was by myself and the scrambling was sketchy in a few spots.

Definitely fun with others and I can't wait to go back to try, but not for the average hiker if you want to try to tackle all of the cracks all the way through, boulder walls and all. With that said, this place is amazing and you will feel like you are in a level of Tomb Raider. Awesome little trail! Lots of stinging nettles to dodge but worth it! Great trip! Don't bother bringing trekking poles if you're going in the crack.

There were a few scrambles that weren't very feasible so plan on having to turn around a couple times if you aren't very comfortable with scrambling. There are several points where the crack comes up to meet the terrain so you can easily skip harder sections. A very unusual hike. Short but a scramble up and down over rocks. Nice and cool in the crack compared to up above.

Use Navigator in the AllTrails app and join the other outdoor explorers who have completed this trail. Crack-in-the-Ground Trail easy Length 2. Crack-in-the-Ground is an ancient volcanic fissure over 2 miles long and up to 70 feet deep.

Normally, fissures like this one are filled with soil and rock by the processes of erosion and sedimentation. However, because it is located in such an arid region, very little filling has occurred and Crack-in-the-Ground exists today nearly as it did shortly after its formation thousands of years ago.

Skip to main navigation Skip to main content. Oregon In Your Inbox spinner. Thank you! You will receive your first email soon. Love Oregon? Get more stories delivered right to your email. Your e-mail: Sign Up. They are the crustal response to earthquakes of magnitude 7 or larger, though such earthquakes in central Oregon have occurred rarely in the frame of human history. But why a gaping crack? Flexing of the uppermost layers produced tensile stretching fractures parallel to the fault line.

An analogy is the bending of a slightly softened sheet of wax, which at first folds but then cracks along the fold axis. Thus the fault and crack, so intimately related, have distinct qualities. The open crevice of Crack in the Ground is a shallow phenomenon, narrowing abruptly downward. Although fault escarpments are common in the High Lava Plains, gaping cracks are rare.

So what gives? The answer may lie simply in preservation, a testament to the geological youthfulness of Crack in the Ground. Future large earthquakes may obscure the crack by more deeply burying the downthrown side and shedding rockfall from the upthrown side. Windblown sand may eventually fill the Crack entirely.

Crack in the Ground predates human occupation, and its use by the Northern Paiute or other Indigenous people is unknown.